Disciplinary Committee suspends Beckham for role in scuffle with Quakes

NEW YORK – The Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee handed LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham a one-game suspension on Thursday for actions that led to a scuffle during the team’s loss to the San Jose Earthquakes last Saturday.

The Disciplinary Committee also fined Beckham an undisclosed amount for his role in the incident, during which he showed confrontational and provocative behavior in the final minutes of the team’s 4-3 loss at Stanford Stadium.

The Committee also stated that it considered his conduct unacceptable and detrimental to the league’s public image. Beckham will serve his suspension during the Galaxy’s matchup at the Chicago Fire on Sunday (3 pm ET, ESPN).

Real Good
Di Maria, Higuain among those on scoresheet as Real cruise by LA

CARSON, Calif. — Spanish champions Real Madrid kicked off a four-game U.S. tour with a 5-1 romp of the LA Galaxy before a stadium soccer-record 30,317 crowd Thursday night at The Home Depot Center.

Gonzalo Higuaín tallied at the start, Ángel Di María and José María Callejón added goals before halftime, Álvaro Morata netted a fourth to start the second half, and Jesé Rodríguez tacked on a late strike as Real ran away with the victory.

Center back David Junior Lopes netted one for the Galaxy, which played close to a first-choice lineup the first 45 minutes, then made 11 changes and had just one sure-fire first-teamer — Mike Magee — on the field for the second half.

CARSON, Calif. — David Beckham set up two first-half goals and scored a third as the LA Galaxy overcame an early deficit to rout Isidro Metapán 5-2 in their CONCACAF Champions League opener at The Home Depot Center on Thursday night.

Beckham's crosses led to goals two minutes apart, an own goal by Metapán defender Ricardo Alvarado in the 20th minute and a Robbie Keane header in the 22nd, as LA answered Nicolás Muñoz's fourth goal of the tournament in the 17th.

Beckham then curled in a corner kick off goalkeeper Fidel Mondragón's fists with the final touch of the first half, and Juninho netted two goals in the second half, scoring in the 82nd minute and in stoppage time.

Muñoz converted a penalty kick in the 87th minute after Bryan Gaul, who had come off the bench two minutes earlier, dragged down Shawn Martin in the Galaxy box.

Beckham's goal was the 1,000th since CONCACAF adopted the league format for its club championship four years ago.

CARSON, Calif. – The Galaxy had a new Reserve League debutant make quite the impact Monday, and he says he'll be ready to roll when LA take on Colorado in a regular-season encounter on Friday night.

Landon Donovan, out since Aug. 15 with a hamstring strain, came on for the final half-hour of the Galaxy's clash with Portland and needed just a handful of touches to take command. He had a goal and an assist before 10 minutes passed as LA romped to a 4-0 victory on their Home Depot Center practice field.

“Tired,” Donovan said afterward. “Out of shape. ... I'll be ready for Friday.”

Donovan last week asked the Galaxy to include him “if I was ready.”

“We wanted to see how I progressed,” he said. “I was still not training Friday or Saturday, then Sunday I was able to do a little bit, so if I had a chance to play 30 today, I wanted to, and Curt [Onalfo, the reserve-team coach] was great and let me play.”

Out Of This Galaxy
LA trade forward Buddle to Rapids for draft pick, cash

The two-time MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy are not standing pat this offseason.

On Friday, the club announced it has traded veteran forward Edson Buddle to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for allocation money and the Rapids' first-round 2013 MLS Supplemental Draft pick. The move came less than an hour after LA selected midfielder Colin Clarke and goalkeeper Will Hesmer in the Re-Entry Draft.

Buddle had a quiet season for the Galaxy, making only 10 starts and scoring just three goals during a 2012 which saw him struggle with injury between a right adductor strain, plantar inflammation and meniscus surgery to his right knee.

On the final day of 2012 there’s news that the best team in MLS could be on the brink of getting a whole lot better in 2013.

The reports coming out of both England and Italy this morning indicate that Carlo Cudicini, the veteran Tottenham goalkeeper who has been linked with a move to the LA Galaxy in recent weeks, has signed a two-year deal to join the club for next season. Sky Sports Italy’s Gianluca Di Marzio tweeted out the news early this morning with this update in Italian, but there is no confirmation from the Galaxy.

There’s also news on the Frank Lampard front, with Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times reporting that the Galaxy and the Chelsea icon are deep in talks about a deal for 2013. Lampard’s current deal with the Blues runs out next summer and despite scoring both Chelsea goals of a 2-1 win over Everton on Sunday, Lampard insisted there is no new progress on a deal to keep him at Stamford Bridge beyond next season.

"We haven't been talking about a new contract in the last couple of weeks," Lampard said Sunday. “At the moment nothing has been said and my contract is up in the summer."

The Republic of Ireland international told Sky Sports that he will be passing on European loan offers to take a break and heal ahead of the start to the 2013 MLS season. He spent the early weeks of the 2012 season on loan with Aston Villa.

"It's been a long season, with the Euros and what have you," Keane told Sky Sports' Fantasy Football Show. "I've a few little niggles that need to be sorted out so I don't think at this moment in time it would be right for me to go anywhere."

More importantly, he also revealed that he'll be a Galaxy player for several seasons to come, signing a two-year contract extension.

COLOR=Navy]Galaxy announce that Donovan will rejoin club in late March[/COLOR]

The LA Galaxy announced today that forward Landon Donovan will rejoin the club in training during the final week of March. Donovan, who scored the game-winning goal in MLS Cup 2012 against the Houston Dynamo on December 1, requested an extended leave of absence following the club’s fourth MLS Cup championship.

“After a series of collaborative discussions between Landon, his representative and our key club leaders, we have agreed to allow Landon to remain on an extended leave of absence and return to training with the team during the final week of March,” Galaxy General Manager and Head Coach Bruce Arena said. “We understand this arrangement is not ideal, but we are confident it will allow Landon the time he needs to be both mentally and physically prepared for the upcoming season. We remain focused on our preparation for the start of the 2013 season and look forward to Landon rejoining us next month.”

few weeks after retiring from professional soccer following his revelation that he is gay, US midfielder Robbie Rogers showed signs that he was rethinking his decision.

In a March 29 interview with The Guardian in England, Rogers said: "I might ask [manager] Bruce Arena if I can train with the LA Galaxy -- we'll see."

Well, Arena on Wednesday said the door at the Galaxy is open to Rogers.

“He'd always be welcome to train with us," Arena said. "I'm in contact with players and people all the time in the game, and I don't make my conversations or communications public. They don't need to be. But he's always welcome to train with us.”

US international and former Columbus Crew midfielder Robbie Rogers looks set to return to playing and to MLS.

USAToday.com is reporting that Rogers, who stepped away from playing after announcing in February that he is gay, will join the LA Galaxy, with whom he has been training for the past few weeks.

Rogers, 26, would be the first openly gay player in MLS and, upon making his debut for the Galaxy, and the first openly gay athlete to play in competition in the five major North American leagues.

"I want to come back and be that voice, be that role model," Rogers told USAToday.com. "I want to compete on the field. I want to make it back to the national team. I want to be a role model. I have a lot of motivating factors working for me right now